


brotherly love

by sosgay



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Epistolary, M/M, Uzumaki Naruto Being an Idiot, i think sasuke should have had cool snake minions, kurama being annoyed at sasuke, mostly - Freeform, that tag is on every single one of my works but it's correct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29274861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sosgay/pseuds/sosgay
Summary: Someone really needs to tell Naruto that his feelings for Sasuke aren't what most people call "brotherly".
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 23
Kudos: 153





	brotherly love

It started at Ichiraku, of course.

The WTK (worst team in Konoha) were grabbing lunch. Shino was out on another individual mission, which left Hinata and Kiba in need of a third genin. Naruto, who was constantly free these days, volunteered to help. He had started talking about Sasuke, again, and Kiba’d been mostly ignoring it until he heard a particular word.

“Sorry,” he interrupted. “Say that again?”

Naruto smiled. “I’m going to bring Sasuke back! He’s my best friend!”

“No, no, use the exact phrase.”

“Uhhhhhh.” Naruto frowned.

“He said it was because Sasuke was his brother,” Hinata said quietly.

“Yeah! Thanks, Hinata!”

“That’s what I thought. So you feel like Sasuke is your brother?” Naruto nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh. Explain to me exactly what your feelings are for Sasuke.”

“Well, I mostly miss him, dattebayo.” Naruto started counting off on his fingers. “I want him to be safe, and I want him back in Konoha with us. I want to save him from Orochimaru, and I don’t want him to be stupid and get killed by Itachi.”

“Those are all things you want. How do you feel, when you think about him?”

Naruto squinted, clearly thinking hard. “I…feel sad. But I also feel happy when I remember what it was like to be with him, and I…I feel protective, I think? I feel like I need to be beside him, always. Oh, and I need to keep my promise to Sakura.”

“Hmmm. Yeah, those aren’t brotherly feelings,” Kiba said. “Hinata. How do you feel about your sister?”

“Um,” Hinata blushed. “I don’t really know her? She has always been my father’s favorite. So I used to be jealous of her, but now I mostly get annoyed when she steals my hairbrush.”

“Yeah. And I love my sister, and if she left Konoha I’d miss her, but I wouldn’t chase her. I’d let her make her own decisions.”

Naruto scowled and crossed his arms. “You guys don’t know what it’s like. Sasuke is my most important person, he’s more than just a brother.”

“So, like, you’re in love with him?” Kiba slurped down the rest of his ramen.

“wHAT?! NO!! I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH THAT TEME!!!”

“Naruto…is in love with Sasuke?” Hinata whispered, and fainted.

“Come on, Hinata,” Kiba groaned.

“I DON’T LIKE HIM LIKE THAT, I LIKE GIRLS,” Naruto yelled.

Kiba kneeled down and put his jacket under Hinata’s head. “Isn’t Sasuke still the only person you’ve kissed?”

“NO—BUT—I’M—AUGH!” Naruto stormed off.

Kiba shrugged. “That went about as well as I expected, Akamaru.”

~~~

“IRUKA SENSEI,” Naruto yelled, barging into the apartment. “I’M NOT IN LOVE WITH SASUKE.”

Iruka looked up from his grading. “Hello, Naruto.”

“He’s mean to me,” Naruto continued, kicking off his shoes and slumping down next to Iruka. “He smells weird, and he wears weird clothes, and I want to punch him, NOT kiss him.”

“Okay,” Iruka shrugged. “Would you like some tea?”

“No, I do—wait. You agree with me?”

Iruka smiled. “You know your heart more than anyone, Naruto. Tea?”

“Tea would be good,” Naruto muttered.

“Good.” Iruka walked over to the kitchen and Naruto crossed his arms in thought. He knew his own heart. He also knew that it was hard to think about his feelings. His feelings about Sasuke were even worse than his other feelings because they were so big. Sometimes it felt like Sasuke took up more space in his stomach than the Kyuubi did. 

“Iruka-sensei,” he asked. “Do you have any siblings?”

“No, since my parents were active duty shinobi they didn’t think they could handle another kid.” He leaned back into the living room, looking at Naruto. “Why do you ask?”

“Kiba said I didn't like Sasuke like a brother.”

“Hmmm. And that’s why you came in screaming.”

“Maybe.”

Iruka turned away and Naruto caught the scent of tea. “I honestly don’t know that many people with siblings. Though I suppose I do see you as a younger brother, in a way.”

“Not as a son?”

Iruka smiled. “Well, that too. But you're not actually that much younger than me, you know.”

Naruto ignored that. “Okay, so what would you do if I left the village?”

“I don't really know.” He set a cup of tea next to Naruto and sat down. “Partially because it's so difficult to imagine. But I'm pretty sure I would trust you and trust that it was best for you. 

“But what if it wasn't best for me, and you knew that!?” Naruto burst out. “What if it were dangerous and bad, and the people I was with wanted to hurt me?”

“We're back at Sasuke, aren't we.”

Naruto crossed his arms and grumbled, “...No.”

“I'm not going to give you the answer you want, Naruto.” Iruka took a long sip of tea. “If you were in Sasuke’s position, I would think about you and worry. I worry about Sasuke. But we all have our own path, and making mistakes is a part of following it.”

“But what about... have you ever liked someone?”

“I like lots of people.”

Naruto shifted, biting his lip. “Ya know. Like-liked. What would you do for them?”

“Ah. Well, it depends.”

“How does it depend? Would you chase them or not?”

“Some people say that love is the chase,” Iruka mused.

“Iruka-sensei,” Naruto whined.

“Fine, fine. I would want to be with them. I would still respect their choices, but part of loving someone is choosing, over and over again, to follow them.”

“Well, that's dumb. How is that different from loving someone like a brother?”

Iruka shrugged. “It just is.”

“You can't say that. I need a real explanation!”

“Well...” Iruka trailed off, gazing out the window.

“Well?” Naruto said encouragingly.

“I know that Lady Hokage had a brother, who she cared for very much.”

“You're right!” Naruto jumped up. “Thanks, Iruka sensei, you're the best!”

Iruka waved, bemused, as he jumped out of the window and made a beeline to the Hokage’s residence.

Naruto thought as he jumped from roof to roof. He kinda liked the thing Iruka had said about choosing to follow someone, but he didn’t like that it was only for  _ that  _ kind of love. Because he didn’t like Sasuke that way. He didn’t like him the way he liked Sakura; he didn’t want to go on a date with him or hold his hand, or anything like that. Though now that he thought about it, it would be really nice to go to Ichiraku with Sasuke. The two of them, together in the village again, maybe taking a break after a long morning of training.

Naruto shook his head to dislodge the daydream. Focus! He needed the old lady to tell him about brotherly love. He scrambled down onto the side entrance and sprinted into her office.

“Tsunade baa-chan! Did you love your brother?” He yelled.

She looked up, startled, and sighed. “This is going to take a while, isn’t it.”

“Naruto,” Shizune scolded, “Hokage-sama is very busy. You can’t keep barging in like this.”

Naruto barged onwards to the desk. “Well? Did you?”

Tsunade waved a hand and the Anbu surrounding her body-flickered away. She set down the stack of papers she was holding and, while carefully aligning them, replied, “Yes. Very much.”

“Great! So would you chase him if he left the village?”

“Is this about Sasuke?” Tsunade looked up and rolled her eyes.

“No!” Naruto protested. “How does everyone guess that so quickly?”

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. “Great. And no, I wouldn’t.”

“Why?!”

“Because he never would have left the village!” She snapped. “He was…a lot like you. He wanted to be Hokage someday. He loved the village, maybe too much.”

Naruto rapidly tapped his foot, squinting. “What if he went on a dangerous mission?”

“Still no. I would ask him to reconsider, but I didn’t—wouldn’t stop him.”

“Even if you knew he was going to get hurt?” Naruto asked, persistent.

Tsunade slammed a fist on her desk. “WHY ARE YOU EVEN ASKING, BRAT?”

“Aah!” Naruto jumped back a foot, narrowly missing the flood of papers.

Tsunade glared over at Naruto, still in her fighting stance. Documents swirled around them, floating down to gently rest on the floor. Shizune squeaked and ran to pick them up before Tonton could eat them.

“Well?”

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets. “Kiba said my feelings for Sasuke weren’t brotherly.”

“Really?” Tsunade collapsed back into her chair, letting out an airy laugh.

“Hey! What’s that for?”

“Oh, Naruto,” She chuckled. “You should have asked that first. Of course your feelings aren’t brotherly.”

“WHAT!”

She crossed her legs. “Your obsession with Sasuke is borderline dangerous, and I wouldn’t be surprised if his feelings for you were similarly complicated. If he were here I’d send you both to couples counseling imme—”

“COUPLES COUNSELING?” Naruto howled.

“—diately. Yes. We shinobi have a twisted idea of what a healthy relationship is, but we’re usually able to set basic boundaries. Spending years obsessively chasing a sibling, or anyone, isn’t normal.”

“Sasuke thinks it is. Sasuke is chasing Itachi right now,” Naruto grumbled.

“Well.” She paused. “That does explain some things about the two of you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tsunade started tidying her loose papers and sorting them into relevant piles. She snapped, and the Abu reappeared at attention.

“Go talk to a Yamanaka about this stuff. Inoichi knows what he’s doing,” She ordered, waving a dismissive hand.

“I don’t want to talk to th—AUGH!”

Naruto picked himself up from the hall floor, grumbling and dusting off his tracksuit. The bump on his head was smaller than usual, at least. He wandered out of the residence, plotting his next move. He didn’t want to talk to a Yamanaka. Ino had a crush on Sasuke, which would make everything weird.

He made it out on the street and wandered through the crowds, hands shoved deep in his pockets. Honestly, he was in a worse place now than he’d been fifteen minutes ago. Ugh, why did Kiba have to bring this up? It was going to mess with his training. He’d had a goal: get better than Sasuke, bring him back to the village. Now that he was apparently in love with Sasuke, what happened to that goal?

“Ah, Naruto!” Jiraiya landed nimbly directly in front of him.

Naruto jumped back, shrieking. “Ero-sennin!”

“Stop calling me that,” Jiraiya said half-heartedly. “I’ve come to resume your training! Aren’t you excited?”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“What?”

“Siblings. Do you have a brother?” Naruto asked, insistent.

“No.” Jiraiya frowned. “Do you not want to train with me?”

“I want to train!” Naruto frowned. “I’m just trying to figure out a problem.”

“And the problem is related to my brother? The one I don’t have?”

“No, just to brothers in general. Kiba said I don’t have brotherly feelings for Sasuke, and I’m trying to figure out what ‘brotherly feelings’ even means.”

“Hmmm.” Jiraiya slumped forward, resting his chin on his hand. “Brotherly feelings.”

“So far Iruka-sensei didn’t help, and Tsunade baa-chan told me I needed couples counseling.” 

“That’s not looking very good.”

“I know,” Naruto sighed.

“Tell me about your feelings. I’m a feelings expert, after all.” Jiraiya turned and started walking towards the town center. Naruto followed him eagerly, skipping a bit as he caught up.

“Well, I really want him to be safe. And I want to spend all of my time with him, and I want to get ramen with him.” Naruto paused for a moment. Did he forget any? “Oh! And I want him to be nice to Sakura-chan.”

Jiraiya’s walk had slowed considerably as Naruto talked. “Those don’t sound like very brotherly feelings to me.”

Naruto groaned. “That’s what everyone says! But what do I do if they aren’t brotherly feelings?”

“Maybe write him a letter? It could be a good idea to get your feelings out on paper.”

“Huh.”

~~~

_ Teme, _

_ It’s Tuesday. Ero-sennin is making me write this so I can figure out my feelings towards you. Well, he’s not making me, but it was his idea. So. Uh, I want you to come back to the village. Even though I won’t be there. I want you to come with me. I want you to be where I am. If that makes sense. Oh yeah! The whole reason that I’m writing this is that apparently, my “feelings” about you aren’t very “brotherly”. Which I think is stupid. Anyway, that’s enough writing for now. _

_ Naruto, future hokage _

_ P.S. Sakura-chan says hi _

_ P.S.S. She didn’t but I thought it would be nice to say _

_ P.P.P.S.S. Ero-sennin does say hi _

~~~

The scroll grew heavier with each step. He gasped as a spike of pain shot from his shoulder to his back. They were so close. It had been so long, but this was it. His chakra was humming under his skin, crackling with tiny sparks of electricity. Sasuke was here, he could feel it.

There was an explosion in a distant corridor. He paused and sniffed the air, then redoubled his speed. Sasuke was there. Sasuke was so close.

One corner, two, and then. There was a light. He raced towards it, staring. He could hear voices. Something about… bonds? Was that Sasuke’s voice? He burst out into the debris field, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. He skidded to a stop next to Sakura and Sai, and looked up.

Sasuke was standing at the lip of the crater. Naruto’s eyes traveled slowly upwards, soaking in the details. Sasuke looked so different. His clothes, his height, his hair. The expression on his face. He’d been hardened by his time away.

Still, he was so hot. So stupidly hot. How was he this attractive? Naruto felt woozy, and not from the blood loss. He needed to keep it together. They were talking again, but he couldn’t hear over the pounding in his ears.

He took a long, steadying breath. “Sasuke…”

“Naruto?”

“Then why…” Naruto paused, taking another long breath. “If so, then why… Why didn’t you kill me then? Isn’t that your way of breaking bonds?”

He felt the Kyuubi roiling inside him, feasting on the torrents of grief and anger and love and shame coursing through his heart.

“Sasuke!”

“The reason is simple.” They made eye contact, and Naruto flinched.

“It’s not that I didn’t cut those bonds. I didn’t want to give him the pleasure of seeing me obtain power by following his ways.”

Sasuke jumped down from the cliff in an instant, and his whole body was half an inch away from Naruto.

“I merely spared your life on a whim.”

“When did he—” Sakura gasped.

“Come to think of it, isn’t your dream to become Hokage?” Sasuke said softly, directly into Naruto’s ear. “If you have the time to chase after me, you should be training. Isn’t that right, Naruto? That’s why this time, at my whim, you’ll lose your life.”

Sasuke lazily unsheathed his sword and held it up, poised to pierce through Naruto’s vital spots.

For a moment, Naruto couldn’t breathe. Stupid, stupid Kiba. This would have been so much easier if he hadn’t known. If he hadn’t spent the last two years in love with Sasuke, if he hadn’t re-affirmed his love with every stupid, pointless letter still locked in his sealing scroll.

“Take it.” Naruto’s voice surprised him. “I’m in love with you, and I have been for the last three years. I’ve already lost my life to you, Sasuke.”

Sasuke froze, sword an inch from Naruto’s back. Sai jumped into action, the moment of hesitation giving him a chance to knock the blade away. A blast of lightning chakra blew them both back, and Naruto hit the ground with a thud.

“Sasuke,” he gasped, reaching out. His eyes rolled back into his head.

~~~

Oh. This place again. Naruto looked around. The Kyuubi's cage loomed, menacing as ever. He could feel his body somewhere far away as his fingernails lengthened.

“Naruto,” the Kyuubi growled. “Let’s show them our power.” 

Naruto looked down. He wasn’t walking on the water…it was up to his ankles. But he couldn’t feel the floor. Strange.

“What’s wrong? Why are you hesitating? You need my power, right? You should understand. That you can’t do anything yourself, that is.”

His body, still far away, was flipped onto his back. He felt the ghost of hands clasp his wrists and shivered.

“Release the seal completely! If you do then I’ll give you all of my… ugh. You,” the Kyuubi snarled, disgruntled.

“What did you say?”

Naruto looked behind him. “What are you doing here, Sasuke?”

“You’re in love with me?” Sasuke was annoyed. It was the first expression Naruto had seen on this new Sasuke’s face, and he loved it.

“I’m right here,” the Kyuubi hissed.

“Obviously. Why else would I be here?” Naruto reached out, trying to touch Sasuke’s arm.

Sasuke took a step back. “I thought it was a brother thing.”

“No one else thinks that. I used to think that, but I’m stupid.”

“Naruto, kill him,” the Kyuubi growled.

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie about this? Could I?” Naruto gestured around at the space. “You’re in my brain, I don’t think I can lie here.”

“That’s…” Sasuke trailed off, looking at Naruto. The annoyance had faded into confusion.

“I’ll end both of you. ”

Sasuke turned and exploded the fox with a casual flick of its wrist.

“I hope you kill each other,” it said petulantly as it faded into nothing.

The space started to dissolve around them. Naruto reached into his chest pocket and pulled out the scroll. “I wrote you letters. Hundreds of them.”

“Why?”

~~~

Naruto jolted back into reality. His body was aching, the pain in his shoulder tripled. Sasuke was kneeling on top of him, pinning his wrists. Naruto wriggled one hand free and pulled out the real scroll.

“Because I wanted you to know,” he rasped, shoving the scroll ungracefully down Sasuke’s shirt, “that I was thinking of you. That I want to be the person you return to.”

“The person I return to?” Sasuke’s confused expression deepened, then shattered into a snarl. He jumped backward and was caught in a wooden dome. Naruto’s head fell back and he dropped his arm, breathing hard. He saw Yamato straining to hold the jutsu in place. The wood tightened, the dome shrinking and shrinking and then—a bright burst of blue chakra.

Sasuke burst out of the prison, eyes flashing.

“Naruto…” Yamato started forming hand signs, eyes locked on Sasuke. “I’m sorry you have to see this.”

Across the field, Sasuke started forming his own hand signs, spitting with fury.

“Stop,” Orocohimaru ordered.

Sasuke paused. Wooden beams gathered around the base of the field but stayed immobile.

“Don’t kill them,” Kabuto added. “They may be useful.”

“Useful?” Sasuke scoffed.

“They’ve killed one Akatsuki member already.”

“Tch.” Sasuke jumped up to join them on the edge.

Naruto struggled back to his feet, desperately reaching out. “Sasuke!”

He paused, expression inscrutable.

“Promise me, promise me you’ll read them,” Naruto yelled. “Please!”

Sasuke turned away.

~~~

_ Sasuke. _

_ I saw you today, for the first time in two years. WHY ARE YOU SO HOT NOW IT’S NOT FAIR. I just want you to come home. I’m glad you took the letters. You should have seen the look on your face! Honestly if I hadn’t been two minutes away from passing out I would have passed out laughing. That doesn’t make sense. Maybe it’s the blood loss. _

_ Seeing you again made me realize how much I miss you. And how much I love you. It’s physically tearing me apart, I think. I just want to be with you again. I think I’d be happy, if we were together. We’d be happy. Don’t you think we deserve that? _

_ Naruto _

~~~

Three days after the confrontation, Naruto was finally released from the hospital. It had been slightly less boring than usual because everyone came in to ask about Sasuke. Naruto happily indulged their curiosity and chatted on at length about Sasuke’s new hair, new jutsu, and new cool outfit.

“I'm glad you realized that you're in love with him,” Shikamaru drawled, propping his legs up on the windowsill. “Because otherwise, this would be miserable.”

“I think I'd be less miserable,” Naruto replied. “I'm hiding it really well, but I miss him a lot.”

“You're not. And I meant for me.”

“Whatever,” Naruto grumbled, singing back into his pillows.

Shikamaru stretched. “So what are you going to do, now that Sasuke has the letters?”

“Um... keep trying to find him and bring him back, I guess.”

“Hmmm.”

“Why hmm?!” Naruto glared over.

“I just thought you'd have a more interesting plan. Do you really want him back?”

“Of course I want him back!”

Shikamaru smirked. “Then we need a new plan.”

“Believe it! Wait... we?”

~~~

The first part of the plan was to hang out at the outskirts of the village. Shikamaru hadn't been particularly clear about why, but it didn't matter. Naruto took his time on his loop around the training grounds, enjoying the wind in his hair. He made it to an isolated lake and took a moment to sit down.

He stared out at the water, fully prepared to doze off. He leaned back and quickly scanned the area. Everything looked…was that a snake? He sat up straight and peered over. It was headed directly towards him. Huh.

The snake stopped at his ankle and hissed. Naruto squinted down and noticed a small scrap of paper attached to its back.

“Is this for me?” He asked.

The snake hissed and wiggled.

“Okay.” Naruto shrugged and picked up the paper. The snake slithered a few feet away and watched him.

“Weird,” Naruto grumbled, opening the paper. It was one of his old letters. He skimmed it. Based on the travel stuff he talked about in the beginning, this one was from about a year and a half ago, back when he'd still been figuring everything out. It had been a pretty dark time, comparatively. There was one phrase that still stuck out to him.

_ I don't like thinking about a future where this is it between us. _

The rest of the letter picked up a bit and was mostly his daydreams about a future where they were together in Konoha. At the bottom of the page, after the postscripts, Sasuke had scrawled a message.

_ What do you mean when you say a future where this is it? And why are you thinking about our future? _

“Hmmm.” Naruto stared down at the letter, considered it, then checked if the snake was still there. It was.

“Am I supposed to give this to you?” He asked.

He wiggled again.

“Huh.”

Naruto pulled a pen out of his side pouch. He’d started carrying handfuls of them about a month into his travels when his letter-writing really took off. They were surprisingly good backup weapons. He paused, thinking, and scrawled the reply on the back.

“Here you go!” He offered the letter to the snake. It bit it and slithered off into the bushes.

Naruto stood and cracked his back.

“I'd better go tell Shikamaru about this.”

~~~

_ Sasuke. It means I'm scared of chasing you forever. I don't want to love you from far away, I want to be with you. _

_ What does this one mean? And what if I don't love you? What use is being close to me then? _

_ What do you think I have dreams about you means, jerk? It means I fall asleep and I still see you. See us. _

_ And maybe you're not in love with me now, but just you wait! Believe it! _

~~~

Ha! Naruto flowed back, avoiding the Rasengan. His two shadow clones over-corrected and flipped past him. He flipped around and threw a line of kunai, smirking as they poofed away. 

“Dobe.”

“Wha?” Naruto fell off the branch.

Sasuke stood, a small smirk crossing his face.

“You didn't need to do that,” Naruto grumbled, standing and jumping back up to the branches. Sasuke shrugged.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Naruto asked.

They were about eighty miles out of Konoha. Tsunade had decided he needed to “stay busy” so she'd given him a random C-rank. Jiraiya had tagged along for training purposes AKA to find the nearest onsen.

“I had another question.” Sasuke held up a letter.

“Why didn't you use Snakie?”

“Use—who?”

“Snakie,” Naruto explained. “The little guy who always delivers the messages.”

“That's not his name!”

Naruto shrugged. “It's what I call him. He likes it.”

“He does not,” Sasuke hissed.

“Whatever.”

“Just read the letter.”

Sasuke threw it over. Naruto caught it and started skimming. Oh, this was one of the gooey ones. He'd only written those when he was really lonely, or really... other things. This one wasn't too bad, all things considered.

“What about it?” Naruto frowned. “I'm in love with you, and I missed you a lot. I still miss you.”

“Read the second sentence in the third paragraph.”

Naruto found it. “Hmmm… ‘I remember how much I thought I hated you, and it makes me sad’.”

“The next sentence, usuratonkachi.”

“Teme. Uh… 'I wasted so much time back then, when I should have just followed you. I'd go anywhere with you now’.”

Naruto looked over at Sasuke. He looked back, smirking.

“Well? I'm here. Are you going to come with me?”

Naruto blinked. He narrowed his eyes, shifted his weight, and knocked that smug look off Sasuke's face with a tackle hug.

“Yeah! My bag is packed, let's go! I need to send a letter to Tsunade baa-chan, but she'll understand. Where are we going? Can we stay away from Orochimaru? He's gross.”

Sasuke was frozen in place.

“Sasuke?”

“You’d... actually come with me?”

Naruto tilted his head. “Of course I would. Being in love means you follow your person anywhere.”

“Oh.” Sasuke looked down at where Naruto still had a grip on his wrist.

“So?” Naruto grinned. “Where to?”

There was a quiet snap, and Naruto reeled backward as Sasuke disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Sasuke!” Naruto yelled, scrambling to regain his balance. “What was that jerk?”

~~~

It was a week before Snakie showed up again.

“Hey, buddy!” Naruto grinned and slipped him a food pill. He actually seemed to enjoy them? Which was the most shocking thing about this whole affair. He was carrying another letter. This one looked much more recent.

Naruto skimmed it, and hmmm. It was only the second to last letter he'd written before the confrontation. It was mostly complaining about Sai, and bragging about how nice the onsen was.

Sasuke had circled Sai’s name and written  _ who is he? _

Naruto scribbled back a description of Sai. He considered Snakie.

“Can you carry a sealing scroll? A small one.”

He hissed.

“Excellent!” Naruto pulled out his new letter scroll, opened it, and quickly shoved the reply inside.

“You gotta be speedy or the other letters will escape,” he explained. “And it's not that big of a mess anymore, but it used to be crazy.”

He held out the scroll. Snakie delicately latched onto it and fled into the underbrush with a quick flick of its tail.

~~~

_ Sai’s like you, but he wears a crop top. He’s not very good at emotional stuff, he didn’t really have them. He used to be in a secret organization so he had a bad time as a kid. He likes painting and had a brother. Oh! He also likes ramen now.  _

_ He sounds like a cheap knock off. Did the Hokage think so little of your team that she gave you a pale imitation of me?  _

_ Hey! Teme, why are you so mean! Sai’s better now, and he has his own stuff. His jutsu is also much cooler than yours :P _

~~~

Sasuke reappeared a few days later when Naruto was returning from another C-rank, this time fetching classified information from a dead drop. He was leaning casually against a rock outcropping.

Naruto skidded to a stop in front of him. “Teme!”

“Dobe.” Sasuke held up a letter.

“Another question?” Naruto squinted at the letter.

“Maybe. And maybe some answers.”

Naruto snatched the letter away and started reading. He got to the second paragraph and froze.

“Ero-sennin started talking about weird stuff today,” Sasuke quoted.

Naruto stayed silent, face flushing a vibrant red.

“What did he tell you about?” Sasuke asked, crossing his arms, a grin playing at the corner of his mouth. 

“Um. Research.”

“Really? That's not what the letter says.”

“Different—different research. Like in his books, but only with. Um. Two guys instead.”

“Weren't those books boring? I remember you talking about how confused you were that adults liked them so much.”

“What are you asking me all this for!?” Naruto yelled.

“I'm curious.”

“Go be curious somewhere else!!”

“Why?” Sasuke jumped into Naruto’s space and stole the letter back.

“Hey—” Naruto protested.

“Ah, here it is.” Sasuke leaned forward and lowered his voice. “…and it was still pretty boring. But I think it would be less boring if I tried it with you. I thought I didn't want—”

This time, Naruto fled.

~~~

_ Teme!! _

_ That was mean :( I wanted to tell you stuff, and you kept talking about the letter. It’s just that I want to be close to you, that's it. As close to you it can be. Anyway, I'm headed towards the sound border for an escort mission. Also, I love you. _

_ Naruto _

~~~

“I wanted to break my bond with you.” Sasuke was sitting on a branch, clearly battered.

“Sasuke!” Naruto jumped up to him, hands fluttering over his injuries.

Sasuke closed his eyes. “But you made it too hard. You kept building it up.”

“What happened? How did you get here?”

“I killed Orochimaru,” Sasuke said, voice flat.

“You—” Naruto pulled Sasuke into a hug, crowing with delight. “Yeah! You're so cool, Sasuke!”

“Naruto. My ribs,” Sasuke wheezed.

“Oh, sorry.” Naruto leaned back. “Can I bring you to the hospital?”

Sasuke frowned. “But you said you would come with me.”

“Yeah? I will. But you're really injured, Sasuke.”

“Konoha won't accept me.” Sasuke shook his head and tried to stand.

Naruto held him down. “Of course they will. You killed Orochimaru. You’ll be welcomed back with open arms.”

“I will?”

“You better be.” Naruto squinted over in the direction of the village, baring his teeth.

Sasuke laughed and coughed. “Tch. Fine. You can bring me in.”

“Alright! Believe it!”

“On one condition.”

“Anything,” Naruto agreed.

“You need to come with me to kill Itachi.”

Naruto paused, pretending to think about it. “I don't know... can we go on a date if I do?”

“No.”

“Sasuke!”

Sasuke sighed. “Maybe.”

Naruto grinned and picked him up bridal style.

“Hey—hey! Dobe! Put me down!”

“No.”

**Author's Note:**

> a few months ago i got really annoyed at how naruto says he does everything because sasuke is like a brother to him. so i went to both of my siblings (and my mom!!) and asked them what they would do if i went on a years-long revenge quest. shockingly, none of them would do what naruto did. 
> 
> unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. 
> 
> come say hi on tumblr!! i'm @sos-gay


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